NEWS: Niger
KIDS IN WAR
Seven children killed in Niger “by a Nigerian air strike”.

Niger and Nige­ria con­duct joint mil­i­tary oper­a­tions against armed gangs in bor­der regions
Sev­en chil­dren were killed in Niger in a Niger­ian mil­i­tary air strike tar­get­ing “ban­dits,” a local gov­er­nor and state media said.

Five oth­ers were injured in the appar­ent­ly acci­den­tal strike, the gov­er­nor of Niger’s Mara­di region told AFP.

Gov­er­nor Chai­bou Aboubacar said four peo­ple were killed instant­ly and three died on the way to hos­pi­tal. State tele­vi­sion said the attack occurred in the vil­lage of Nachade.

Niger­ian offi­cials said an inves­ti­ga­tion had begun.

Aboubacar said the vic­tims’ rel­a­tives were attend­ing a cer­e­mo­ny and “the chil­dren were prob­a­bly play­ing” when the airstrikes hit them.

Map show­ing Niger, Nige­ria and Mara­di
He said he believed the planes were tar­get­ing “armed ban­dits” in areas around the bor­der between the two coun­tries, but missed their tar­get and hit Nachade, a vil­lage in the Madaroun­fa region.

Niger and Nige­ria have con­duct­ed joint mil­i­tary oper­a­tions against armed gangs respon­si­ble for a wave of kid­nap­pings and killings in the region.

Since 2018, Niger has increased mil­i­tary patrols along its bor­der with Nige­ria to pre­vent gang incursions.

The chil­dren’s deaths come just three months after 26 chil­dren aged five and six were killed in a fire at a school in the city of Maradi.